Dehydrator



April 24, 1928.

H. B. HARTMAN ET AL DEHYDRATOR Filed Sept. 16. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet, 1

gnaw-v do EB.HarZrna/w, EEfiarl'a Z VITNE\S.SES.'- 44 K April 24, 1928. 1,667,316

H. B. HARTMAN ET AL DEHYDRATOR Filed Sept. 16. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 gn'ue'ntow EB.HarZ ma/n,

Patented Apr. 24, 1928.

' UNITED STATES.

HARRY BUXTON HABTMAN AND FRANK E; Henri/ten, OF SCOTTZDALE, PE NSYL-I 1,667,316- PATENTKOFFICE,

VANIA, ASSIGETVORS TO ELECTRIC ATER sT nILIznR "AND QZQNECOMPANY, OF SCO'ITDALE, PENNsYLvANIan CORPORATION or PENNSYLVANIA;

DEI-IYDLR-ATOR.

v 1 Application filed September 16, 1925. 1 Serial no: 56,736.

r This invention relates to dehydrators for snippiying dry air to ozone apparatus for the purpose of increasing the OHCPUlZQIli ozone, and keeping its production constant.

A primary object of the invention is to provide a dehydrator of adequate capacity and which includes means for reactivating the dehydrating" material without dismantling the apparatus and without loss of time in; operationf In that connection the invention contemplates reactivating or regenerating means that may be manually set in operation at the proper time and automatically cut out when the dehydrating medium is reactivated. v v v A further object of the invention is to provide a dehydrator ofsimple and practical construction which may be easily manufactured and assen'ibled, and which is also suss ceptible of embodiment in multiple unit form. I v i i v a With the above and other objects in View which will niiorereadily appcaras the na ture of the invention is better understood, the same consists in the novelconstructiom con'ibinationand arrangement of partshereinatter more fully described, illustrated and claimed. i

A preferred and practical embodiment of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawings, in whichr y Figure 1 is a vertical sectional view of an apparatus illustrating the present im n-ovcments. i

Figure l is a detail view of the outlet connections torthe dry air.

Figure Qis a detail vertical sectional view tahenon the line 2--2 of Figure l.

l igiure E} is a detail horizontal sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure l, with heatcrshown in dotted lines.

Figure -1 is a detail elevation o l' a multiple unit apparatus Qllllflltlylllg novel features o1 cmistructionand arrangement.

Similar reference characters designate corrcsponding1parts throughout the several figures of the di wings. As ml 1' be observed supported on the legsioreqnivalcnt members 2 and having the interior horizontal guide ways 41 while the upper edge. thereof from Figure 1 thej presentdevrce includes in its organ zation a hollow base member or air intake section 1 the cylinder 6 which provides the main wall of a holder for the dehydrating material, as will presently appear. The cylinder- 13, is provided with a dry air discharging sec-v tion or rap T whose lower edge lils into the tronghed or grooved portion 8 at the upper edge of the cylinder 6. The base 1 and cap T are held together by means of the relatively long tiebolts 9, the said cap and base clampingtlierebetween the cylinder 6t0 maintain the parts described in the relation set fortlu The air receiving base section 1 is open atone side as indicated at 10 in Figure 2 andthe said opening may becovered by a removable door or hand-hole plate v. 1 1. Abovethe doonllthcre is mounted a wiring box 12 for housing the electricalconnections for establishing contact between the-outside power lines 13 K? and the wires 14 of the heating element 15. I This location of the box 12 pern'iits of the tree removal and re flacement ot the door 11 without interfering with the wiring connectionsto the heating element 15. The inside face of thedoor 11 also carries'an offset flange 11 lying in thesame plane as the upper wall of the guide This heating element preferably comprises a ring 15 otfireclay, porcelain or other materials having the heating wires Ill wound thereabout. The lower edge of said ring 15.) rests upon the base plate 16 whi h is slidably mountedin the guides 1 pi'iwiom-ily referred to, but. docsnot cover a series of openings ii: in the plate which are so arranged that air passing through the same will le conrsi-al over the heating elements it to pick up heat lheret'rom to reactivate the ileiiydratim material, as hereina i'tcr more l'ully set forth. v y

The cylinder (3 which provides a reservoir or holder section for the poro lyteor other dehydrating lllzliOllitldS preferably formed near its lower edge with an annular otlsct head or rim 1%) which supports a 'spider 20 having its upper side faced with a relatively line meshed screen 21. This permits the free entrance (.rtair upwardly-through the chamber or reservoir but holds the dehydrating material in place.

The bottom of the base 1 below the plate 16 is formedinto an air inlet chamber C by reason of the fact that the plate 16 haying the openings 17 cooperates with the guide ways 4 to partition ofi' the lower portion of the base so; that the only way that air can escape therefrom is through the openings 17; In that connection it is important to observe, particularly from Figure 2 that the door 11 carries the inside oitset flange 11 to overlap the front edge of the plate 16- thereby formingineffect a continuation of the upper wall of the guide 4 so that no air will escape between the front edge of theplate and the inside face of the door. Thus, with this arrangement. air must escape from the chamber C through the opening 17 and thereby effectively pick up heat from the wires 14L when the porolyte is to be. dried or eactivated.

Air under pressure is supplied to the chamber G through the pipe line 22. This pipeline is fitted with an automatic valve 23, which is so designed" as to open-and bypass to atmosphere. all excess air which is not permitted to pass out. through pipe line 22 by reason ofvalve manipul'ations as will be more clearly seenllater.

It: unit volume per minute of air is required for ozonizing, for activating the drying material ten units of volume of air will be required per minute, it is the function of the valve 23to permit of the use of two distinct rates of flow from the one blower.

The motor is connected'by the wires 26 and 26* with. the terminals 2-7 and 27 eta temperature protectingrelaydesignated as R; Also the. wires 13 and 13 are connected" with theterminals 28 and 28" of a double"polexlouble reversing switch designatedas Spwhereby when the handle H of the switch inthe-position shown in Figure 1 current may be supplied through the bl'adesflfl ot the two-blade switch controlled by the handle H, thereby to connect said terminals 28 and 28 with the wires 30 and 30 of an automatic cut-outswitch designated generally as A; This device A is of a. more or less standard construction and is therefore only diagrammatically shown in Figure 1 and operates in conjunction with a thermostat T mounted within the cap 7 andconnect'ed with the automatic rut-out switch A. by a suitable electrical connection T. The thermostat T in Figure l is shown diagrammat-ically at the side of the cap instead ofat the front to more conveniently show the circuits involved. The automatic switch Ajis SllppllGd with electrical current from outside power-lincsP. Power from P may be supplied to the motor 25 and the heatihgwhes H- by placing the handle Hot The operation of the. construction shown in Figures 1 to 3 inclusive is substantially as follows:

After the device is assemblech as shown in the figures above referred to, and the holder section, or :container 6, is filled,- with porolyte or other drying medium 1), the handle of the switch S is placed in the opposite position from that shown in solid lines in Figure 1. The handleo't the threeway valve V is also so placed as to direct the air from the outlet 7 of the holding section 6 to an ozone producing unit. connected with the dehydrator througrh the three-way valve Vtthe needle valve N and the flow meter F; hen the three- 'ay valve V is in this position; the port otthe three-way valve opening to the atnjiosphere is sealed. The switch S being in the position to energize the ozone producing unit through the lines P, and the motor 25, which oper' ates the blower 24, air will be delivered by the blower 241 through the pipe to the.

receiving chamber C, thence to the holder section 6 where it will be brought into int,i mate. contact with the drying medium 1), thus removing, the aqueous vapor content from the air. The'dried air will be subsequently delivered to the ozone producing unit through the three-way valve V, the needle valve N serving to regulate the quantity delivered to the ozonizer, and this quantity will be determined by theliow meter F. The entire capacity of the blower 24 will not be required for ozonation, in tact only ten per cent 0f. the capacity will be required. Due to the friction introduced by the needle valve Nthe excess air will be automatically exhausted by the by-pass relief valve 23,

without having to pass through the dc.- hydrator.

The effectiveness of the drying; medium D will of course depend upon the temperatm-c otthe air supplied it, and the amount of water vapors whichit contains. The dimcin sions of' the holder section 6 should be so calculated as to etl'ectively dry the air at the maximum humidity to be expected of the raw air. at-its maximum temperature and fixed velocity. The capacity should be such as to permit of at least use tor one week before the drying medium willreqnirc reactivation. lVh'en the drying medium becomessaturatml it becomes necessary to activate it. This is accomplishml by reversinp the-handle oi. the switch S, thus disconnectinn the ozone producer 'i IOHL the power circuit and connecting the power with the heaterwires 14:, and at the same time maintainin; the power connection to the motor 25. The three-way valve V is then placed in the position whiclrseals the dehydrator. from the ozone producer and connects the dehydrator directly with? the outside atmosphere through the three-way valve. hen the three-way valve isso placed theonly resistance to the flow of the air, beyond the dehydrator, is that occasioned by its efllux from the port of the three-way valve. As this removes the material, so that, the temperature of the efilux air will not/be raised greatly above that of the surrounding air. This heat absorption will continue until all of the water has beenveva'porated from the drying mamain olf until the start button "is manually terial and swept from the dehydrator by the air stream. WVhen evaporation has been completed the temperature of the etliux air will rise quickly thus supplying sutiicient temperature to the thermostat T to cause it to open the solenoid circuit of the automatic switch A. a f a As the automaticswitch A is operated by a momentary contact push button station and hold-in tip, asshown by the wiring diagram of Figure. 1, the thermostat is simply connected in series between the stop point of the push button and the solenoid of the automatic'switch A, therefore, on cooling the thermostat cannot close the automatic switch A, thus the power from P will re depressed, The activating operation usually requires'from 6'to 10 hours, and an equivalent period of time is required for the drying [material to cool, therefore, it the dehydrator is operated for a week andactivation started on Saturday night, by Monday morning the reactivation and cooling ot the drying medium will be coi'nplete and by reversing the' switch S and the three-way valve we can again continue the drying of air and the operation of the ozone producer.

A multiple unit type of apparatus is shown in Figure 4 of the drawings wherein the appaaitus is shown in more or less diagrammatic torn'i. This organization of parts may be used when continuous operation of the dehydrator is necessary, as where no periods of rest are available. In this form of apparatus. first one unit (F) and then the other unit (G) is alternately used for dehydrating purposes and alternately reactivating.

As will be'observcd from Figure 4 the automatic cut-out switch is designated generally as A, the two-pole switch designated as S. Also the blower 24' and motor 25 are used in substantially the same way as previously described. However, the blower 24 is connected with a pipe which is in turn connected with a four-way valve 36for controlling the passage of air totheunit F or the unit G through the pipe lines 37 and 38 respectively. a it 'T y t In the arrangement shown in Figured the unit F is being operated to reactivate the dehydrating element. ln this figure air under pressure from the blower passesthrough pipe line 35, valve 36 and line 37 to the bottom of the unit F, and then out through the conncction lfltat the top o tf'the unit and through the valve l0 tothe atmosphere The valve 40 is located in a pipe line 42 which has a 'valve h; atfoii e end for controlling communication between the unit G and the pipe 42 through the pipe con nection l t, and as-will also be observedfrom Figure lthe line 42 is provided "with a dry air take off connection 45. i 1

When the unit F is being reactivated dry air is pulled through theunit G' by suction since the blower 24 is furnishing air under pressure to'the unit F. That is made pos-- sible by placing a pump in the line 45, and the valve 36 being of such construction that when turned in the position shown in Figure l atmospheric air can be sucked intothe pipe line 38fand thence through the unit G before being discharged through the pipe line 44. y a a y a From the foregoing it willi'be apparent that the present constructiom provides a simple and practical arrangement from a manufacturing and assembl ng standpo nt, and also provides a'construction which permits of readily reactivating the dehydrating element without taking theap paratus apart or otherwise rendering the dehydrator out of use when it is necessary to use the same in connection with ozone apparatus. I

lVith the position of theswitch handle H -shown'in Figure 1 andtheposition of the valve V shown in Figure 1, it. will be under} stood that thc dehydrating material D is being reactivated due to the fact that the blower 24 is supplying air to the healer 14-15 which is supplying hot airto the holder 6. The moisture, laden air escaping through 7 exhausts to the atmosphere to the valve V as shown in Figure l; on the other hand whentho switch handle H is thrown to the dotted linepositionthe dehy drator is supplying dry air through the valve V to the ozonizer. Of course. under these circuu'istances the three-way valve V is turned to place the line 7 and the linecon taining the valve N in conununfcation.

Vithout further description it isthought that the features and advantages of the in vention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and it will of course be understood that changes in the form, proportion and minor details of construction may be resorted to, without departing from the spirit of the invention or scope of the appended claims." 7 e claim c 1. In aw dehydrator, a dehydrating material holder section, an air receiving section, a dry air discharging cap section, an electrical heating element in the air receiving section, means for manually cutting in said electrical heating element to reactivate the dehydratiiigmaterial at predetermined periods, and means for automatically cutting out said heating element when the reactivating period has ended.

2. In a dehydrator, adehydrating material holdersection, an air receiving section, axlry air discharging section, mean: for sun plying air under pressure to said airreceiw ing section. electrical heating means in. said air receiving section heing' normally inoperative, means for manually rendering said electrical heating means operative. and means'iorautomatically rendering said heating means and air supplying njieans inope'ia V 'tive.

3. In a dehydrator, a dehydrating material holder section, an air receiving section, a'dry air discharging'section, means for supplying air under pressure to said air receiving section, electricalheating means in said an air rec'eiirin'gsection being normally inoperative, means for manually rendering said electrical heatingmeans operative; and athern'iostat in the cap section, and means automatically controlled by id thermostat for renderingthe l'ieati'ng el'en'ient' inoperative and cuttingofl' the supply of airto the air receiving, section.

4. A dehydrator, a'dehydrating'niaterial holder section, and air receiving section a dry air discharging cap section, blon'er means fon supplying air to said airreceivin'g section, a motor for oi ierating said blower, anelectrical heatingelement in said air re ceiving section and normally inoperative a tlierinostat in the cap section, a manually operated switch device for controlling the operation. of the motor and the electrical heating element, and an automatic switch device controlled by said thermostat "tor an tomatically breaking the circuit to the motor and the heating element;

5. In a dehydrator,-a dehydrating material holder section, an air receiving section side thereofiineans for supporting a heating element in said air IGCGIYIHQ, chamber, an

electrical heating elementnorn' ally inoperative resting upon said. supporting means, a' 1 manually controlled switch for supplying electrical current to saidheating element, and means for automatically cutting elf cur rent from said heating element.

(5. In a dehydrator, a dehydrating material holder section, an air receiving section and a dry air discharging section, means for supplyingairtothe air receivingfsection, said latter section having a guidenay ex} tending around three sides thereof, a door at thei ourth side of said section, a support having openings adapted to slide in said gnideway through the door, and an o'liset flange carried by the door and in line with the upper flange of the guideway to insure the passage of air through said openings in the plate, an electrial heating element mounted on said plate and disposed in. the path oi air'ciirrents passing through said openings in the plate, manual means tor closing an electrical circuit to the heating element and automatic means for breaking the circuit to isai d heating element.

7. A reactivating dehydrator for use in connection with an ozone generator including'in combination, a dehydrating n'lat'eriai holder, means for supplying air to said holder, electrical heating means for said air l e foreit'passes to saidholder, means tor manfl nally renderiiig said electrical heating means operative, and means for auton'iatically renderi'n'gsaid electrical heating means inoperz'lr tive due to diiierential temperature conditions in the holder after the dehydrating n'iaterial has been reactivated. v

S. A reactivatin'g dehydrator 'iornse in connection with ozone generators including in coinbinatioina dehydratingmaterial. holder, a,'n air supply line leading from said holder to the generator, a tireay valve in said air supply line for establishing coinniunication between the holder and the generator or with the atmosphere, means for supplying air to said dehydrator holder and then through the valve to the supply pipe to hirnish' air for the production of ozone, electrical means tor heating air furnished to said holder to reactivate the dehydrating material when the alve isturned to exhaust to the atmosphere, and means for autoi'natically cutting oil the supply oi electrically heated air When the dehydratingmaterial has been reactivated.

In testimony whereof we hereunto afiix our sigi'iatures.

{AR-RY nuXTon, nitnTMAii. FRANK n. HARTMAN.

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